One Direction sell out Sheffield City Hall in seven minutes - VIDEO

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Published:16:10Saturday 01 October 2011

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ONE Direction-mania arrived in South Yorkshire when hundreds of fans turned up for tickets and Sheffield City Hall sold out in just seven minutes, writes digital editor Graham Walker.

Ticketmaster sold its UK tour allocation in record-busting 10.6 SECONDS.

Just the ticket: Sheffield fans who queued 23-hours to get the first tickets to see One Direction at Sheffield City Hall, left to right, Kathryn Valleandres-Taylor, Matthew Richmond, Beth Rendell, Elisha Collier and Lauren Redfearn.

And it added up to a level of hysteria like Beatlemania.

VIDEO: Press the play button to watch our video report, as the first fans to get tickets in Sheffield scream and jump for joy.

Those successful at the City Hall included pals who had been at the front for 23-hours. They sang, danced, jumped up and down, then physically shook with excitement.

Some even wept with joy when they eventually got their hands on the most eagerly sought after concert tickets for the world’s biggest new boy band - featuring Doncaster’s own Louis Tomlinson and his mates Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Liam Payne.

Hottest ticket in town: This is what every One Direction fan wanted - a ticket to their Sheffield City Hall concert on January 20, 2011.

The Sheffield concert, on January 20 next year, will be something of a homecoming for Louis.

Screaming girl fans are planning to greet him with carrots, said Lauren Redfearn, who got the first ticket after a 23-hour wait with a group of student pals outside the 2,271 seat venue.

“We’re bringing lots of carrots to the concert because Louis likes girls who likes carrots. Harry likes sweetcorn and Branston pickle, so there will probably lots of that too,’’ laughed the 21-year-old teaching assistant.

“I would dump my boyfriend any day for One Direction. I haven’t got one anymore. That’s why. We’ve been waiting a year for this tour.”

She had been there almost a day with 16-year-old Notre Dame High School students Kathryn Valleandres-Taylor, of Wisewood, Matthew Richmond, of Handsworth, Beth Rendell, of Sheffield Lane Top and Elisha Collier, of Crookes.

Elisha added: “We haven’t had any sleep but it’s gone fast and it’s been fun. Somebody had a guitar, so we were signing, playing games and getting to know the other fans.”

City Hall bosses said there were around 400 people in the queue when tickets went on sale at 10am on Saturday.

Around 20 fans had camped over night but the majority turned up around 6am.

A wrist band system was introduced to marry up the number of available tickets with those queuing.

“Once the allocation had been counted out, any further customers were advised that it was unlikely that tickets would be available for them but were still welcome to continue queuing in the small chance that there might still be some available,’’ said a statement.

“Tickets could also be bought online and over the phone.

“Though measures had been put in place, unfortunately due to the phenomenal volume of traffic the Sheffield City Hall website did experience problems. Despite this, customers were still able get to through to buy their tickets via the website. Phone lines also received a hammering and became jammed very quickly, but again some customers were successful in getting through.

“The City Hall allocation of tickets sold out within seven minutes, making it one of the fastest selling on-sales that the City Hall has witnessed.

“Unfortunately, such was the unprecedented demand for this concert it was inevitable that not everyone that wanted a ticket would be successful in getting one and we’re sorry for those who didn’t. As yet, there are no plans for a second concert to be scheduled.”